Chapter 8 - The Woman With My Name
The photograph on the license wasn't me.
That was the first thing Hailey told investigators.
The woman looked enough like me to pass a careless glance.
Blonde.
Similar age.
Similar facial structure.
But not me.
My name.
My birth date.
My old address.
Someone had built a version of Claire Bennett that existed only on paper.
That discovery widened everything.
The investigation moved beyond a family betrayal.
Trevor's confidence suddenly made sense.
He hadn't expected me to cooperate in my own divorce.
He hadn't needed me to.
Someone else had been intended to become me for the signatures that mattered.
Gerald Pike disappeared before investigators could question him further.
Trevor claimed ignorance.
Nobody in my family believed him anymore.
Even Dad.
Especially Dad.
Hailey gave investigators the suitcase voluntarily.
Inside were copies of corporate filings, account summaries, property records, and photographs of my signature.
There was also a prepaid phone.
One message remained undeleted.
She still doesn't suspect anything.
Another:
Vegas after final transfer.
And the reply:
Then new life begins.
Hailey read those words while sitting beside me.
Her face went white.
"He was going to marry me after taking everything."
I looked at her.
"Apparently."
"And he told me you were destroying him."
"He needed you to believe that."
She cried.
I didn't comfort her.
But eventually, I slid a box of tissues across the table.
That was all I could give.
For now.
Then investigators identified the woman on the false identification.
Her name was Melissa Grant.
She had worked briefly at Trevor's fitness company.
May you like
And she had disappeared from payroll eleven months earlier.
The exact month of my supposed divorce.
